This invention relates to a roller mounted carriage which also may function as a ground aerator.
Conventional machines which have a dual purpose function in ground aeration as well as ground rolling are well known and reference may be made, for example, to AU 111662, AU 254567, International Publication No. WO99/09802 and International Publication No. WO99/09809.
International Publication No. WO99/09802, in particular, refers to ground aeration apparatus having a main frame which has a support axle having a plurality of spaced cutters or slicer blades mounted thereon as well as a pair of undercarriages mounted to the main frame which were located adjacent the support axle. Each undercarriage supported a plurality of unevenly spaced idler rollers. In this regard, each idler roller was pivotable about a universal axis and each undercarriage was pivotable about a horizontal axis. This specific arrangement is illustrated in International Publication No. WO99/09809. This enabled each idler roller to closely follow ground contours in use.
However, in operation, it was found that the combined ground aerator and roller of International Publication No. WO99/09802 was complicated in construction in having a ground slicer mounted adjacent to each of the roller undercarriages and this arrangement also meant that the undercarriages had to be restricted in width for satisfactory operation. Also, the apparatus of International Publication No. WO99/09802 could not satisfactorily be used in relation to golfing greens of irregular or complicated shape.
It was also to be appreciated that in some circumstances it was desired to attach the apparatus of International Publication No. WO99/09802 to a tractor and this was not appropriate because the apparatus of International Publication No. WO99/09802 was provided with a driver roller attached to the main frame as well as a driver""s seat mounted on top of the main frame.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a roller mounted carriage which may also have a ground aeration function so as to alleviate the disadvantages of the prior art described above.
Accordingly, the invention refers to a carriage having at least one but more preferably a plurality of idler rollers as well as a ground aeration mechanism.
More preferably the carriage is provided with a body or housing which has a hollow interior in which the idler rollers and the ground aeration mechanism are located. Preferably the ground aeration mechanism is provided by a support axle having a plurality of slicer blades attached or mounted thereto which may be spaced from each other by spacers located between each of the adjacent slicer blades. Ideally each of the slicer blades attached to the support axle are offset with regard to each other to facilitate efficient ground aeration.
Preferably the carriage of the invention has three ground contacting idler rollers and the support axle for each of the slicer blades may be located between one idler roller at one end of the carriage and a pair of ground contacting rollers located at another end of the carriage.
Each of the idler rollers may be mounted to the carriage in any suitable fashion but are preferably only attached by a suitable roller axle to the housing. In this embodiment, it is possible to dispense with the combination of horizontal pivot mount as well as universal pivot mount which was used in International Publication No. WO99/09802 and allow such pivotal motion to be imparted to each of the carriages by the action of the prime mover as hereinafter described. In this regard, the prime mover can take over substantially all of the steering of the carriage of the invention which was not possible with the apparatus described in International Publication No. WO99/09802. This meant that the carriage of the invention is much simpler to operate and also has a much simpler construction when compared to the roller mounted undercarriages described in International Publication No. WO99/09802.
The support axle for the slicing mechanism may also be mounted to the housing in any suitable manner and preferably the support axle or shaft is attached to a depth adjustment frame which may be pivotally attached to the housing. The depth adjustment frame may be moved relative to the housing from a disengaged or non-operative position to an engaged or operative position. Preferably there is also provided an intermediate position between these extremes wherein each of the slicer blades are partly engaged with the ground.
The depth adjustment frame may also be mounted to an adjacent roller axle and the frame may be movable longitudinally so as to release the slicer mechanism from a particular depth as described above and move the frame to a new depth location as required by the operator. In this embodiment, the depth adjustment frame may be supported in a reciprocatable manner on a pair of cranks at each side of the housing whereby locating pins of each side rail of the frame may engage in mating slots located in each crank. However, more preferably, locating pins of each crank engage in mating slots located in each side rail of the frame.
The carriage may also have attached thereto a mounting frame which may pivotally engage with a prime mover support frame as hereinafter described at one end of the carriage. The carriage at another end may be provided with a pivotal mount for pivotal attachment to the prime mover support frame to facilitate tilting of the carriage about a transverse axis as hereinafter described.
The carriage may be attached to a prime mover of any suitable type, such as a tractor with a three point linkage for operation on golfing greens, sports ovals or golf fairways. However, preferably the prime mover is provided with a support frame which is hydraulically operated so that the support frame xe2x80x9cfloatsxe2x80x9d on the carriage in use as hereinafter described.